Manifold inking ribbon



June 16, 1936. J. PHELPs MANIFOLD INKING RIBBON Filed Feb. 2, 1932 n mmlEt INVENToR wlTNEssEs Ll Patented June 16, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE MANIFOLD INKING RIBBON Application February 2, 1932, Serial No.590,392

6 Claims. (Cl. IS7-1,72)

My invention relates to manifold inking ribbons for typewriting and likemachines, such ribbon being interleaved between two work sheets toproduce a manifold copy on the underlying sheet without producing anoffset or imprint from such ribbon on the outermost sheet that receivesits imprint from the ordinary inking ribbon of the typewriting or likemachine.

The main object of my invention is` to provide 10 an improved manifoldribbon which is simple in construction, is comparatively inexpensive tomanufacture, is highly eicient in use and may be used effectively togive clearer' copies for a longer period than other manifold ribbons.

To the above and other ends which will hereinafter appear my inventionconsists in a manifold ribbon of the character hereinafter described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Heretofore it has been customary in making manifold ribbons to coat theinking ribbon on one side with a non-permeable compound to prevent theink from seeping through to the front face of the ribbon.

It also has been customary to cause an impermeable shielding strip toadhere to the front face of the inking ribbon throughout the entireextent of the shielding strip.

The result in both the above mentioned instances is to materially reducethe effectiveness of and to produce an unsatisfactory ribbon. It

results in causing a spread or blurred imprint in a manifold copy; notgiving a clear, sharply dened outline of each character written. Suchribbons also fail on repeated impacts of the types to give up therequired quantities of ink for the production of good manifold copies,thus very materially reducing the life of the ribbon and rendering ituseless for the production of clear manifold copies after it has beenused only a few times.

'I'he rst mentioned of these disadvantages probably is due to the factthat the impermeable coating, or the adhesive by which the shieldingstrip is caused to adhere to the inked ribbon, hardens and prevents aclear denition of the outline of each character written; Acarrying agreater extent of ribbon at each' impact against the paper than isnecessary and causing a spread or imperfectly dened or blurred imprint.The second of the above mentioned disadvantages probably is due to thefact that the impermeable coating, or the adhesive by which theshielding strip is caused to adhere to the `inked ribbon. reduces orpartly destroys the capillary qualities of the inking ribbon andprevents the ink from readily flowing or passing from one portionthereof to another so that the ink from an unstruck part of R the ribboncannot readily pass to and replace the ink removed therefrom at adjacentpoints which receive the impacts of the types. Moreover, it has beenfound that such manifold ribbons very soon dry out and become worthlesseven when not in use, probably by reason of the reduced ink carryingcapacity of the inking ribbon due to the coating of ink repellentcompound or the adhesive by which the shielding strip is caused toadhere throughout its extent to the ribbon.

I discovered that by causing the soft, pliable shielding strip ofcellophane to adhere to the ribbon at intervals only, instead of overthe entire surface of the shielding strip, all of the above mentioneddifliculties are overcome, and a manifolding ribbon is produced that isfar superior in every respect to that having the shielding stripadhering throughout the entire extent thereof to the ribbon, or in whichthe ribbon is coated with an impermeable compound. The new ribbon ofmyinvention gives far clearer or better defined imprints than the oldduring a far greater period of use; more than doubling the life of theribbon, and the ribbon does not dry out so rapidly during non-use.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown several different forms ofconstruction embodying my invention.

Fig. l is an enlarged, detail, front face view of one form ofduplicating ribbon embodying my invention; the view showing a portion ofthe shielding strip broken away to expose the inking ribbon, theduplicating ribbon as a whole being shown supported on arms of a framecarried by the carriage of a typewriting or like machine.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are similar views of modified forms of duplicatingribbons, each view showing but one half of the ribbon.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, detail, sectional view of my preferred form ofribbon taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction ofthe arrows at said line.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, detail, sectional view of a modified form ofribbon taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4 and looking in the direction ofthe arrows at said line.

'I'he textile'ink carrying ribbon, which may be of the usual or anysuitable character, is designated in eachinstance by the referencenumeral I0. whereas the separate shielding strip is indicated in eachinstance by the reference numeral Il. For the shieldingstrip I prefer touse cellophane or some such equivalent impermeable, smooth surfaced,soft moisture and ink repelling substance devoid of any grain. Inpractice I have found that cellophane of slightly more than .001 of aninch in thickness or about one iifth the thickness of the inking ribbon,answers the purpose very well. When such a strip is attached to theribbon only at intervals, and is not caused to adhere thereto throughoutits entire extent it aids materially in the production of clear cut,sharply dened, manifold imprints that are free from the spread or blurand imperfections produced with manifold ribbons in which a differentcharacter of shielding strip, and one which adheres to the ribbonthroughout the entire extent thereof, is employed. In fact it has beenfound in practice that when the same character of shielding strip andthe same character of ribbon is employed in both instances, but inoneinstance the shielding strip is caused to adhere throughout the entireextent thereof to the ribbon,

Whereas in the other instance the shielding strip is caused to adhere tothe ribbon only at intervals as shown in the drawing, far superiorresults areA obtained by the last mentioned ribbon; clearer and sharplydefined imprints and a freedom from spread being attained, and the lifeof the ribbon. being more than doubled.

In the manifold ribbon shown in Figs. 1 and 5 the extreme edges only ofthe shielding strip II are attached to the inking ribbon Ill by lines ofadhesive material indicated at I2, leaving the entire intermediateportion of the shielding strip free from attachment to the ribbon. Iregard this form of construction the most preferable since the typesnever impact against those portions of the ribbon where the parts I0 andII are united by the adhesive material and the edges of the parts I0 andII are rmly united and may be readily interleaved between the worksheets without affording an opportunity for the edges of the worksheets, or either of them, to pass between the shielding strip II andtheinking ribbon I ll.

Any suitable means may be provided at the ends of the manifold ribbonfor detachably connecting it to the supporting means therefor. Saidsupporting means are represented in the present instance by arms I3which are notched at I4 to receive the connecting devices or means atthe ends of the ribbon and form part of a supporting frame detachablyconnected to the carriage of a typewriting or like machine.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5 the attaching means atthe ends of the ribbon are in the nature of metal clips I5 each bent onitself into substantially' U shaped formation and providing a loopedportion at the outer end in which one of the arms I3 is received. One ofthe arms of each clip I5 is provided with a series of tines I6 adaptedto be received through openings I'I in the other arm of the clip and tobe bent or folded over into an engaging and clamping position, as shownin Figs. 1 and 5, after the tines have passed through the ribbon I0 andshielding strip II received between the two arms of the clip and clampedbetween them.

In the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 6 the shielding strip II iscaused to adhere to the inking ribbon I0 by three parallel stripes ofadhesive material I8, two of such stripes being provided at the edges ofthe ribbon as in the construction shown in Fig. 1, and the singleintermediate stripe being disposed lengthwise at the center of theribbon.

In this construction I have shown the inkingl ribbon bent into the formof a loop at its outer ends as indicated at I9 to receive the supportingarms 3. The textile fabric of the ribbon at each looped end thereofoverlaps the shielding strip II and a line of stitches, indicated at 20,unites the two layers of ribbon and the intermediate shielding strip. Iprefer in this form of construction after opening the loops at the endsof the ribbon, to dip them in a iluid, say, to the depth indicated bythe line 2|. This fluid compound or solution in which the ends of theribbon may be dipped is preferably a paint like substance of collodionor lacquer or some such suitable material that forms a coating on theouter looped ends of the ribbon which is impermeable when dry andconstitutes a protection that prevents the operators fingers from beingsmeared by the ink of the ribbon in placing it on and removing it fromthe supporting arms. Any suitable substance may be employed for thispurpose. One of the advantages of this form of loop over the metal clipis that there is less liability of injury to the work sheets and typefaces from the use thereof.

The construction shown in Fig. 3 is similar to that represented in Fig.2 except that the stripes of adhesive by which the shielding strip II issecured to the ink ribbon III is in the form of narrow diagonal stripes22 that extend from edge to edge of the ribbon.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 is similar to that shown in Figs. 2 and3 except that the adhesive material 23 by which the shielding strip I!is attached to the inking ribbon I0 is arranged in spots situated atwidely separated intervals only throughout the length and width of theribbon.

It will be understood that While the use of cellophane as a shieldingstrip in connection with an inking ribbon of textile fabric results inthe two strips having different qualities from the point of view oftheir capability of stretching, the connection at intervals between theinking ribbon and shielding strip nevertheless unites them and maintainsthem suciently united for the purposes for Which the manifold ribbonsare used without appreciably detracting from the qualities andeffectiveness of the inking ribbon to produce clearly defined manifoldcopies and kwithout detracting from the substantially full capacity ofthe ink containing and capillary qualities of the inking ribbon.

It will be understood, moreover, that the freedom oi' the cellophane, oran equivalent material, from all grain provides against any possibilityof the transmission of any grain through the ribbon on the impact of thetype in the production of the manifold-copies. It has been found inpractice that even a thin laid" paper used as a shielding medium maytransmit its grain through the ribbon and reduce the clearness of themanifold imprints and show the grain of the paper on the manifoldcopies. It will be understood, therefore, that in the use of materialsuch as cellophane there is a. complete freedom from any such grain orthe transmission thereof to the manifold imprints.

Of course, by attaching the shielding strip to the inking ribbon in themanner described, the two are sufciently united to make them in effectone part that may be readily introduced between the work sheets withwhich they co-act.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, and a shieldingstrip attached thereto only at intervals throughout the extent of theshielding strip, said inking Vribbon being folded on itself at the endsthereof and attached to the body portion of the inking ribbon andoverthe intervening shielding strip thus forming loops by which themanifold ribbon may be detachably connected to its supporting means.

2. A manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, a shielding stripattached thereto only at intervals throughout the extent of theAshielding strip, said inking ribbon being folded on itself at the endsthereof and attached to the body portion of the inking ribbon and overthe intervening shielding strip thus :forming loops by which themanifold ribbon may be detachably connected to its supporting means,said looped ends of the ribbon being coated with a moisture and inkrepelling substance so as to protect the hands of the operator frombeing smeared with ink in attaching the manifold ribbon to or removingit from its support.

3. A two ply manifolding ribbon for typewriting and like machines foruse in interleaved relation between twowork sheets -to producea manifoldcopy on the underlying work sheet without producing an off-set lorimprint from such ribbon on the outermost work sheet that receives itsimprint from the ordinary inking ribbon of the typewriting or likemachine, said manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, and ashielding strip to prevent back printing on the overlying work sheet,said shielding strip being attached to the inking ribbon with anadhesive only along the edges of said shielding strip.

4. A two ply manifolding ribbon for typewriting and like machines foruse in interleaved relation between two work sheets to produce amanifold copy on the underlying work sheet without producing an off-setor imprint'from such ribbon on the outermost work sheet that receivesits imprint from the ordinary inking ribbon of the typewriting or likemachine, said manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, and ashielding strip to prevent back printing on the overlying work sheet,said shielding strip being attached to the inking ribbon with narrowdiagonal stripes of adhesive material that 'extend from edge to edge ofthe shielding strip.

5. A two ply manifolding ribbon for typewriting and like machines foruse'in interleaved relation between' two work sheets to produce amanifold copy on the underlying work sheet without producing an off-setor imprint from such ribbon on the outermost work sheet that receivesits imprint from the ordinary inking ribbon of the typewriting or likemachine, said manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, and ashielding strip of cellophane to prevent back printing on -the overlyingwork sheet, said shielding strip being attached to the inking ribbonwith the aid of an adhesive material that extends along the edges onlyof the inking ribbon and shielding strip and unites them only at suchpoints.

6. A two ply manifolding ribbon for typewriting and like machines foruse in interleaved relation between two work sheets to produce amanifold copy on the underlying work sheet without producing an off -setor imprint from such ribbon on the outermost work sheet that receivesits imprint from the ordinary inking ribbon of the typewriting or likemachine, said manifolding ribbon comprising an inking ribbon, and Iashielding strip to prevent back printing on the overlying work sheet,said shielding strip being attached tothe inking ribbon by an adhesiveonly at intervals throughout the extent of the shielding strip, saidshielding strip being made of relatively thin cellophane approximatelyone fth the thickness of the inking ribbon, and being smooth and freefrom grain and repelling moisture and ink.

JOSEPH PI-IELPS.

